Effect of culture conditions and mother's age on the sensitivity of Daphnia magna Straus 1820 (Cladocera) neonates to hexavalent chromium.

Daphnia magna is a freshwater cladoceran used worldwide as test organism in aquatic toxicity assays. In Mexico there is a test protocol for this species; nevertheless, some aspects of the controlled neonate production, as well as the possible consequences of the reproducers' culture conditions on the response of neonates to the toxic substance, are not completely known. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of temperature and photoperiod on the acute toxicity of CrVI in D. magna neonates, aimed at providing useful information on the Median Lethal Concentration (LC50) to this heavy metal, which is used as reference toxicant in some laboratories. D. magna was cultured at 20 and 25 degrees C, in combination with two photoperiod values: 16:8 and 12:12 (light:dark) during 40 days; the green microalga Ankistrodesmus falcatus (4x10(5) cells ml(-1)) was supplied as food. Once the reproduction began, the neonates were removed and acute toxicity bioassays at 20 and 25 degrees C were performed, by exposing them to hexavalent chromium. We also determined changes in neonates' size at 20 and 25 degrees C. Chromium toxicity increased along with increasing temperatures, and LC50 values were slightly lower for the first and last clutches in the observed period, but these findings are not conclusive because of the large variability recorded. The average LC50's were 0.2076+/-0.0164 mg l(-1) (at 20 degrees C) and 0.1544+/-0.0175 mg l(-1) (at 25 degrees C). The reproducers' culture temperature had no effect on neonates' sensitivity to chromium, in spite of performing the tests at temperatures either lower or higher than those at which the neonates had been obtained. The length of neonates produced during the first two clutches (<1.25 mm) was significantly lower than that measured in neonates of following reproductions (>1.3 mm), and were smaller at 25 degrees C; however, this did not seem to affect their sensitivity to chromium.